The present invention generally relates to motive control systems for aircraft with electric drive taxi systems.
When an aircraft is taxiing under impaired visibility conditions, and following another aircraft, it can be difficult for the aircraft pilot to respond and quickly increase or decrease taxi speed, to maintain a safe separation between the two aircraft. The impaired visibility conditions may be due to weather conditions, or the loss of daylight. Other conditions causing distraction, such as a heavy workload, may also make it difficult for the pilot to respond quickly and increase or decrease taxi speed to maintain safe separation. Changes in the speed of the preceding aircraft may be difficult to perceive when certain weather conditions are present or at night. A high workload or other distraction may also make changes in the preceding aircraft's speed difficult to perceive. Maintaining safe separation manually between an aircraft and the aircraft it is following, under poor visibility or other distracting conditions may contribute to an increased pilot workload and may reduce safety by compromising separation distance.
As can be seen, there may be an ongoing need to maintain safe distances between aircraft while reducing the workload of pilots, especially under low visibility or other distracting conditions.